Page 98 of Eight Steps to Alpha

Chapter 36

Playingwith the folded-up napkin in one hand, Elliot spread it open on his lap, and glanced down to Mary’s handwriting. It was her phone number, along with her address for tomorrow night. Everything had gone exactly as planned, exactly how Fe wanted it to, because by the end of the night, he didn’t even have to ask for her number. She gave it to him right after asking about his plans for the weekend.

Four weeks ago, he would have been ecstatic after tonight, because Mary was the woman of his dreams. But that was before he really slept. Before being with Fe rocked him off of his axes, before he let himself imagine something different. He closed his eyes, letting his head fall back on the headrest, and tried to be happy. But all he could think about was the way Fe looked when she’d pushed at his chest and told him to go back to Mary.

What the fuck was he supposed to do now? She was telling him to go away, had told him point blank that their time together was a mistake, but everything within him yelled something different. He wanted her. Wanted her in a way he’d never wanted a woman before. All of her body, all of her breathes, every single part of her.

But she didn’t want him.

No, she was forcing him into the arms of another woman.

When his Uber pulled up to the front of their apartment, he thanked his driver, then climbed out of cab. Immediately, he noticed the lights in the second story window. A faint flicker, but his stomach instantly twisted, and he ran up the steps. When he pushed open the door to the apartment his whole body tightened. Fe, dressed in her pajama’s, was curled up on the couch, asleep in his brother’s lap. “What are you doing?” he asked Colton.

Colton covered his mouth with one finger, “Shhh…” But in one easy motion, he slid from beneath her head, and rested it again on a pillow. His clothes were disheveled, his eyelids heavy as though he’d just woken up himself. “I should ask you the same question.” He yawned.

Elliot clenched his jaw and took of his jacket, throwing it to the corner of the room “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’.”

He couldn’t help but look back at Fe, whose hair was damp and stuck to her face. “Did you touch her?”

“I don’t see how any of that is your business—”

Elliot stepped forward, clutching Colton shirt in his firsts. “Did you touchher?”

Colton stared into his brother, as though seeing right into his soul “I didn’t touch her.”

Elliot’s hands loosened, he took a breath, but the soft sound of Fe’s hiccups filled his ears in that moment. “Was she upset.”

“She says she wasn’t.”

His heart thudded. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You tell me,” Colton yanked out of Elliot’s grasp and turned to the kitchen, pulling out a jug of orange juice from the fridge as he spoke. “Where do you go from here?” Colton asked him, pursing his lips. “I’m curious?”

“What are you takin’ about?”

He pointed to the list on the refrigerator, now partially covered with a pizza coupon. “Your plan. What happens next? Have you thought about that?”

Elliot followed his line of vision, then came into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “Why do you care?”

“Because I’m your brother.”

Elliot crossed his arms at his chest but said nothing.

“So, you get the girl, you get Mary, then what? You leave her heart broken?” He jetted his chin to the living room. “Doesn’t sound like you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

“Is that right?”

Elliot opened the cupboard, filled a glass with water and drank it by half. “Yes, that’s right?”

Colton laughed.

“Fe doesn’t want me, Colton.”

“And you believe that?” He placed the jug of juice back in the fridge and slammed the door. “God, you’re dumb!”

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